These data suggest that aspects of cognition centering on the processing of social information are strongly activated during REM sleep. Further, the lack of verbal dream reports should not exclude, a priori, the possibility that a form of a dreaming is taking place. This is supported by evidence from dream reports to be discussed below. There is a tendency to think that what we cannot consciously recall does not influence us, but this is surely not the case. The cognitive approach to dreams focuses on the psychological process of memory and learning during sleep and the REM cycle. In dreams, the potential advantage of noise and variability in the system allows for a broad range of scenarios to be simulated and new scenarios to be created rather than having the same type of dream occur repeatedly. According to this hypothesis, dreams are the result of the forebrain responding to random activity initiated at the brainstem. Some people rarely remember their dreams and erroneously conclude that they do not dream at all (a condition discussed by Freud, 1900), while others experience vivid dreams with rich visual imagery and emotional content. question. Also, clearly in our own species, the traits we have which help us deal with social situations vary greatly and under certain circumstances can be beneficial, while at other times potentially put us at risk. Jaynes (1976) takes this idea even further by arguing that there was a time, roughly 3000 years ago, when humans lacked consciousness and acted in a way that parallels the situated nature of dream consciousness. In this environment, the ability to most efficiently react when a real threat is apparent would obviously confer a survival advantage. Dreams often contain material that is nonsensical and challenging to interpret rationally, making the characterization of dreams from an objective point of view a perplexing task. It is suggested by this theory that dreams serve the purpose of allowing for the rehearsal of threatening scenarios in order to better prepare an individual for real-life threats. This data indicates that just as sleep is not a static unitary process, but rather made of discrete stages, the cognitive processes that take place throughout the sleep cycle, and that are normally uniformly called dreams, differ and can result in different classes of dreams (Fosse, Stickgold, Hobson, 2004). Flying. Also, from a neuropsychological perspective, evidence comparing bizarre dream cognition with certain psychopathology indicates another link between brain activity in dreams and waking. Flying in a dream, and how effectively or poorly it's done, relates to how much control we feel … Is the startle reflex of human infants today to prevent falling from the treetops? Suggesting that dream sleep is unlikely to have evolved from nothing, Panksepp speculations that the relevant core brain mechanisms “originally controlled a prmitive form of waking arousal. Sharing links are not available for this article. Carl Sagan sets out the idea in The Dragons Of Eden. Autism has been likened to a TOM deficit and is associated with disrupted sleep patterns (Richdale and Prior, 1995). There is no particular reason to believe that dreams have an evolutionary purpose. I’ve seen it suggested by several different scientists that most animals go about their waking lives in a state similar to the one we experience in dreams: centered in the present, with little notion of past or future, just strong sensations and automatic reactions to those sensations. Due to the variable fitness of particular behaviors at particular times, we need to be adept at interpreting cultural standards when interacting with others. 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